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“How to Be a Cowgirl in a Studio Apartment” by Carolyn CreedonPosted by Timothy Green

Carolyn Creedon

HOW TO BE A COWGIRL IN A STUDIO APARTMENT

Paint the ceiling blue and let it dry. See pamphlet “How to Paint a
Ceiling.” Chalk a large circle to represent the sun. A light bulb will
do as well. Start close to the sun and trace Mercury. Trace each
planet. Finish with Pluto. Pour each color into a plastic container.
Paint each planet and the sun.
—from anonymous pamphlet, “How to Paint the Solar System on Your Ceiling”

Don’t let the people at Ace Hardware tell you you need a man.

Do pick one up anyway, if he looks red and ripe. A cowgirl needs

nourishment, and some nights, to lie on her back and let something

bloom above her, looming like the stars. A cowgirl’s hardware

is indispensable—big-spurred boots, canteen, and a saddle to go—

useful, but always that soft underbelly she won’t be revealing.

No need for the little black dress: a flannel shirt, jeans, a steaming

Carolyn Creedon: “To me, writing is arranging nests of words, like wood from water for fire: slippery, porous, delicate, changeable, dangerous, breathing, barely balanced objects. I hope to spend my life doing at a lesser scale what Whitman directed for himself: making small wrecks on many fish-shaped islands. Plus, believe me—it beats the hell outta being a stripper.”